Zimbabwean officials say runoff needed

HARARE, Zimbabwe, May 2 (UPI) -- Zimbabwean election officials said Friday a runoff is needed between presidential candidates Morgan Tsvangiari and incumbent Robert Mugabe.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the March presidential election but didn't receive an outright majority, prompting the runoff, The New York Times reported.

Tsvangirai won 47.9 percent of the vote to Mugabe's 43.2 percent, elections officials said. A third candidate, Simba Makoni, captured 8.3 percent of the vote.

A runoff date wasn't announce but Zimbabwean law requires that it be conducted within three weeks.

Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, said the commission's decision to delay releasing results until Friday was "scandalous." The MDC maintained it won an outright majority.

"They arrogantly announced the result," he said. "We are really disturbed. They did not verify the results. They did not give us an opportunity to contest the results. They are waylaying the people's will."

The delay prompted widespread accusations in that Mugabe was trying to manipulate the outcome. Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years.

Opposition and church leaders and human rights groups recently reported increasing violence and intimidation against opposition supporters, the Times reported. Human Rights Watch accused the army of providing supporters of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party with arms and trucks.